Salvaging Tips

Here's a golden opportunity to request one-on-one guidance —from top photo restoration experts at the Department of Art Conservation at the University of Delaware (UD). Department Chair, Professor and Photograph Conservator — Debra Hess Norris — has generously offered to triage 'your' photos and transparencies by providing specific options for home treatment &/or professional conservator referrals. Send questions about your images to art-conservation@udel.eduwith the subject line "Save My Photograph". Debra, a colleagues or an informed student will respond. UD has kindly helped a great number of CARE for Sandy families.

Photo "Bricks"

"How do I cope with photo bricks?," many ask us. Those pesky, often dried, stuck together stacks of Kodaks which appear impossible to separate. Download this pdf, researched by CARE for Sandy volunteer, Martin Rigby (as approved by UofD curatorial staff) to learn how to potentially divide and dry your bricks. Not all Elmer-ized images can be recouped, but with patience and a lot of luck, it may be possible to salvage at least a few.

General advice for a variety of photo issues.

Martin has also meticulously compiled a document listing salvaging tips for a variety of issues, including how to cope with photos stuck in frames. View &/or download it here.

CARE for Sandy is not equipped to repair your damaged tapes, but this vendor has provided a great set of how-to-save tips. You can also e-mail our film restoration advisor, Lloyd Kaplowitz, for advice. He's known for his restorations of Bladerunner and The Godfather.

Be careful of following randomly Googled advice based on questionably accurate internet hearsay! When in doubt — leave your photos be.